Stobaeus, Volume II

Name: Stobaeus, Volume II
Author: John Stobaeus

Greek and English with an introduction and explanatory footnotes.

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Stobaeus, Volume IIBook II Chapter 7 · II.7.11m.13–II.7.11m.14

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 183 of 516

Book II Chapter 7 · II.7.11m.13–II.7.11m.14

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Ancient Greek

p. 362

Ὕβρις καὶ βλάβη

II.7.11m.13

Λέγουσι δὲ καὶ τὸν σοφὸν ἀνύβριστον εἶναι· οὔθ’ ὑβρίζεσθαι γὰρ οὔθ’ ὑβρίζειν διὰ τὸ τὴν ὕβριν ἀδικίαν εἶναι καταισχύνουσαν καὶ βλάβην· μήτε δὲ ἀδικεῖσθαι μήτε βλάπτεσθαι τὸν σπουδαῖον (ἀδικητικῶς μέντοι γέ τινας αὐτῷ προσφέρεσθαι καὶ ὑβριστικῶς) καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο δικαιοπραγεῖν. Πρὸς τούτῳ μηδὲ ⟨τὴν⟩ τυχοῦσαν ἀδικίαν εἶναι τὴν ὕβριν, ἀλλὰ καταισχύνουσαν καὶ ὑβριστικὴν οὖσαν. Ἀπερίπτωτον δ’ ὑπάρχειν τὸν νοῦν ἔχοντα τούτοις καὶ μηδαμῶς καταισχύνεσθαι· ἐν ἑαυτῷ γὰρ ἔχειν τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὴν θείαν ἀρετήν, δι’ ὃ καὶ πάσης ἀπηλλάχθαι κακίας καὶ βλάβης.

Βασιλεία καὶ πολιτεία

II.7.11m.14

Καὶ βασιλεύσειν τέ ποτε τὸν νοῦν ⟨ἔχοντα⟩ καὶ βασιλεῖ συμβιώσεσθαι καὶ εὐφυΐαν ἐμφαίνοντι καὶ φιλομάθειαν. Ἔφαμεν δ’ ὅτι καὶ πολιτεύεσθαι κατὰ τὸν προηγούμενον λόγον οἷόν ἐστι, μὴ πολιτεύεσθαι δὲ ἐάν τι ⟨κωλύῃ⟩ καὶ μάλιστ’ ἂν μηδὲν ὠφελεῖν μέλλῃ τὴν πατρίδα, κινδύνους δὲ παρακολουθεῖν ὑπολαμβάνῃ μεγάλους καὶ χαλεποὺς ἐκ τῆς πολιτείας.

Stobaeus, Volume II: Book II Chapter 7

p. 363

Outrage and Harm

II.7.11m.13

They also say that the wise person is beyond outrage: he neither suffers nor commits it, because outrage is injustice that brings shame, and is harm. The virtuous person is neither wronged nor harmed—though some do treat him unjustly and outrageously—and in this too he acts justly.⁴⁸¹ Moreover, outrage is not just any injustice, but one that brings shame and is outrageous. The person of understanding is not subject to these things and is in no way put to shame. For he has the good and divine virtue within himself, and hence is free from every vice and harm.⁴⁸²

Kingship and Political Participation

II.7.11m.14

The person ⟨possessed⟩ of understanding will sometimes be king and will live with a king who displays both aptitude and love of learning.⁴⁸³ We said that it is possible for him to engage in politics according to the course preferred in the first instance, but that he will not participate if something ⟨prevents him⟩, especially if he is going to do his country no good and considers that great and grievous dangers will follow from political participation.⁴⁸⁴

481.Ὕβρις is outrage or humiliating treatment, rather than merely a spoken insult. The parenthesis admits that others can behave unjustly and outrageously toward the wise person, while denying that they achieve the harm defined here. In the printed punctuation the parenthesis ends after ὑβριστικῶς. The subject of δικαιοπραγεῖν, “acts justly,” therefore returns to the virtuous person, not to those mistreating him.

482.The claim rests on the location of good and virtue within the wise person. It is part of the source’s ethical account of harm and shame, not a denial that hostile treatment can occur. The supplied article τήν is preserved in the Greek and expressed in normal English grammar.

483.The supplied ἔχοντα is rendered by the bracketed “possessed.” The king with whom he lives is qualified by both aptitude and love of learning. “Sometimes” qualifies the wise person’s own kingship, rather than making it a necessary office held by every wise person.

484.Wachsmuth’s parenthetical reference is to printed p. 94, lines 8–11 and 15, translated at II.7.11b. The first-person “we said” belongs to the continuing account, not to this translator. The supplemented κωλύῃ, “prevents,” remains bracketed; absence of benefit to the country and anticipated serious dangers both remain explicit.

About This Reading Edition

The complete surviving text of Stobaeus’s second book, through II.46.22, in Ancient Greek and English, with an introduction and 1,541 explanatory notes. All forty-six chapter headings remain, including the notices for chapters whose texts are missing.

Historical Text and Translation

Greek: Curt Wachsmuth, Ioannis Stobaei Anthologii libri duo priores, volumen II (Berlin: Weidmann, 1884), printed p. 1 and pp. 3–264. The supplied edition preserves consequential editorial signs, reconstructed joins, qualified attributions, and missing-text notices. English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes: Diotimos Editions, 2026.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

Stobaeus’s ancient Greek work and Wachsmuth’s 1884 edition are in the public domain. The supplied English translation, introduction, and explanatory notes are published with the site owner’s authorization.